What are the Hardship License Requirements in MA?

If you’ve lost your Massachusetts driver’s license at some point along the way, you would no doubt love to regain your driving privileges. It can be a hassle to keep up with day to day life without the ability to drive, yet you may not be eligible to have your license reinstated anytime soon. When that is the case, turning to a hardship license may be your best available option.

However, even receiving this form of limited driver’s license is not automatic, so you’ll need to have a plan going into the process. So, what are the hardship license requirements in Massachusetts? Let’s take a closer look.

Start at the Beginning

Before you can think about pursuing a hardship license, you should first understand what kinds of situations will lead you to be eligible for such a license. For starters, your license will need to currently be under suspension or revocation. That can occur for a variety of reasons, including the following:

Drug trafficking conviction

4-year habitual traffic offender revocation

DUI conviction

7 surchargeable events

Obviously, it would be best to avoid losing your license in the first place, by steering clear of the situations listed above. However, if you are already in a position where your license has been suspended or revoked, there is nothing you can do at this point to undo your mistake. Instead, all you can do is assess the options available to you moving forward and make the best of it.

An Actual Hardship

The word ‘hardship’ is placed in the title of this type of license for a very important reason. It is not enough to just be annoyed by the fact that you can’t drive – you actually have to prove some form of hardship in order to be eligible. If you can’t prove that your lack of a driver’s license is creating a legitimate hardship in your life, you won’t be able to succeed in this process.

What counts as a hardship?

Often, it is one of three reasons that is going to help you state your case – the need to get to school, the need to get to work, or the need to attend medical appointments. Those are the usual destinations that are going to help you qualify for a hardship license, but simply needing to do something like get to work or school is not yet enough. Remember, there is a public transportation system in place in Massachusetts, and many with a suspended or revoked license will be told that using public transportation is the way they’ll need to get around for the time being.

Over the years, it has been established that the hardship license requirements in Massachusetts offer very little wiggle room. If you can feasibly take public transportation to get to and from where you need to go, that is what you’ll have to do. It’s only when you can prove that you are experiencing a meaningful hardship due to your lack of a driver’s license that you’ll have a potentially winning case.

Proving It

As you might expect, it’s not going to be enough to just walk into the RMV office and state that you need to be given a hardship license for one reason or another. You are going to have to prove that need before you will have a chance to be approved.

For example, imagine you are requesting a hardship license because you need to be able to drive back and forth to work each weekday. In that case, a letter from your employer (or if you’re self employed) might be one of the pieces of documentation that you’ll bring to your hearing. This letter will help you prove what hours you need to be at the office, and why public transportation would not be a suitable solution to the problem.

Obtaining your hardship license can be a big relief. While you won’t be able to drive at any time of day or night as you would with a regular license, you’ll be able to get out on the road during key parts of the day to manage your life more effectively. We hope you now have a better understanding of what you need to do to obtain your hardship license, and we wish you the best of luck moving forward. Contact us today for help in learning more about hardship license requirements and getting your license back!